Fret board for stringed instruments

ABSTRACT

A FRET BOARD FOR A STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT IN WHICH FRETS ARE FORMED BY SLIDING CIRCULAR CROSS SECTION METAL OR PLASTIC MEMBERS INTO CIRCULAR CROSS SECTION GROOVES IN THE SURFACE OF THE FRET BOARD. WHEN WORN THE FRETS ARE EASILY REPLACEABLE WITHOUT DAMAGE TO THE FRET BOARD. ALSO PLASTIS FRET MEMBERS MAY HAVE CONDUCTING METAL PORTIONS MOLDED THEREIN TO PROVIDE CONTACTS FOR ORGAN TYPE CIRCUITS.

Jan. 23, 1973 D. J. TERLINDE 3,712,952

FRET BOARD FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS Filed May 4. 1971 INVENTOR 00 ALDTEFL/N05 BY %kfllv ganrn ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,712,952 FRETBOARD FOR STRIN GED INSTRUMENTS Donald J. Terlinde, 731 Charles St., St.Paul, Minn. 55101 Filed May 4, 1971, Ser. No. 140,096 Int. Cl. Gd 3/06US. Cl. 84-314 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fret board for astringed musical instrument in which frets are formed by slidingcircular cross section metal or plastic members into circular crosssection grooves in the surface of the fret board. When worn the fretsare easily replaceable without damage to the fret board. Also theplastic fret members may have conducting metal portions molded thereinto provide contacts for organ type circuits.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Prior art frets typically comprise generallyT-shaped members which have small retaining barbs on the stem of the T.The frets are pressed into slots in a wooden keyboard where they areretained by the barbs. When the frets wear out they must be extractedand replaced. However, the barbs tear the wood upon extraction making itdifficult to install new frets which are both properly aligned andproperly secured. Thus, this is an expensive, damaging, and timeconsuming task with less than satisfactory results. My inventioncontemplates a new type of fret construction applicable to use with bothnew fret boards as well as fret boards already fitted with the prior arttype of fret which invention avoids all of the above mentioneddifiiculties.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the instant invention a new fret boardis first provided with a slot at the proper fret location. In thealternative an old guitar having the prior art type of fret constructionmay also be used in which a slot is cut in the exact location where theold fret used to be. This slot is then routed out by means of aspherically shaped router so as to provide a circular groove in the woodof the fret board. A circular cross section piece of plastic or metal isthen slid into this hole from the side of the fret board the hole beingdeep enough to allow a portion of the plastic or metal to show above thesurface of the board providing a fret surface. The preferred materialfor forming this fret is nylon although other types of plastic andmetals such as spring steel may be used as well. A remarkableimprovement in tone has been found to result from this type of fret andis believed that this improvement is due to the fact that the fret is socompletely buried in the wood. In addition, when these frets wear outthey are quite easy to replace by simply sliding them out from the fretboard in a sideways direction and reinserting a new fret. Because of theround surface of the fret and the relatively low friction nature ofnylon notes can be easily slurried since the string can he slid sidewayson the fret plate easily. Even bettter for this purpose are frets formedfrom circular cross section polytetrafluoroethylene material which haseven a lower coefficient of friction. Another variation involves castinga plastic fret with metal parts in it to provide electrical contacts foran organ type circuit. This embodiment will be discussed in greaterdetail later on. It may therefore be seen that it is an object of myinvention to provide an improved fret and fret board construction.Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdrawings and description.

3,712,952 Patented Jan. 23, 1973 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSDESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring simultaneously to FIG.1 and FIG. 2, portions of a fret board according to the presentinvention are shown. At the proper location for the fret, a rectangularslot 10 is sawed into a fret board 12 with a conventional saw or othermeans. The slot is then circularized in cross section by drawing arotating spherical router 14 through the slot. As shown in FIG. 3 acircular cross section nylon fret 16 is then slid in from the end of thecircular slot. By lubricating fret 16 with graphite the entry can bemade more easily. However, in the preferred embodiment another goodmethod of installing the fret is to provide a slot 19 in the end of thefret such as shown in FIG. 2 and twist the fret into place with either ascrew driver or an electric drill type of tool. Whether the fret boardis flat such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 or curved such as shown in FIG. 3makes little difference because a nylon fret is flexible enough tofollow a curved groove. It is obvious from the description so far thatthese frets may be easily replaced wherenever one of them wears outwithout damaging the wood in the fret board.

A remarkable improvement in tone has been noted in the use of thesefrets and it is believed that this improvement in tone results from thefact that the greater portion of the fret 16 is completely buried in thewood portion of the fret board, thus, providing a more solid contactwith the wood.

The present fret construction also lends itself to an improvement inproviding isolated electrical contact type frets such as would be usefulin the apparatus disclosed in Pat. 3,530,226 for a Stringed Guitar WithElectronic Organ Tone Generators Actuated With Fingerboard Switchesinvented by Richard L. Wheeler and Donald J. Terlinde and in Pat.3,530,227 for a Stringed Guitar With Electronic Organ Tone GeneratorActuated Wlth Fingerboard Switches invented by R. L. Wheeler and DonaldJ. Terlinde. In the above referenced patents electronic tones aregenerated by making an electrical contact between the string andelectrically isolated frets. In FIG. 4 a portion of a circular fret 20is shown which is molded with metallic inserts 21 therein connected toelectrical leads 22-. Since nylon is a natural insulator these frets canbe used to make the electrical circuits described in the abovereferenced patents while still allowing the easy replacementcharacteristic of the present invention. In FIG. 3 another possibilityis disclosed wherein alternate short sections of nylon 25 are used tospace a series of short metal frets 26 in a circular slot 24 so as toprovide a series of electrically isolated fret contacts. Certainly othervariations within the spirit and scope of the present invention willcome to mind which cannot be completely encompassed here and thereforethe following claims are presented.

I claim:

1. A fret for stringed musical instruments comprising an elongatedmember of generally circular cross section combined with a wooden fretboard for a musical instrument said fret board having a series ofgrooves therein of generally circular cross section sized to accept by afriction fit said elongated member and of a depth such that only aportion of the side of said elongated member projects above the surfaceof the fret board, said projecting portion comprising less than half ofthe elongated member so that the elongated member is retained in saidgrooves.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said elongated member is formedfrom plastic.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including electrical contacts molded intosaid plastic elongated member.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said elongated member is formed ofmetal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said elongated member is formedfrom nylon.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said elongated member is formedfrom both plastic and metal.

4 7. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said fret board and grooves arecurved and said elongated member is flexible enough to follow saidcurved grooves.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD B. WILKINSON, PrimaryExaminer I. F. GONZALES, Assistant Examiner

